Congo's Copper Returns to the Lobito Corridor as the West's Mineral Railway Reopens

DR CONGO · MINERALS

Key Facts

—The reopening: The Lobito Atlantic Railway has received its first copper shipment from the Democratic Republic of Congo since reopening a flood-damaged stretch of track, the operator said on June 13, according to Mining Weekly and Bloomberg.

—The closure: The link between the port of Lobito and the Angolan city of Huambo was shut for about two months by severe flooding. It was restored after emergency repairs.

—The route: The railway runs 1,300 kilometres from the Atlantic coast to the Congolese border at Luau, with a 450-kilometre extension to Kolwezi. Trafigura calls it the shortest path from the Copperbelt to an African port, at roughly seven days inland.